Biosystemic Principles and Gigamaps for Visualizing Complexity: The Case of Constructing a Design Research Group

Abstract

This article proposes a framework of biosystemic principles to visualize and manage complexity through gigamaps, addressing the lack of a unified language and semantics in systemic design. Drawing on principles of living systems—entropy, self-organization, interdependence, emergence, and evolution—and on systemic network properties—self-limiting, self-generating, and self-perpetuating—the Design Research Group (DRG) of a biocentrically oriented university department was constructed and analyzed through participatory workshops and iterative visualizations. The methodology combined a systematic registry of 60 research outputs with progressive maps, coding relationships and principles to reveal critical nodes and coherent subsystems. The results highlight, among other findings: (i) interdependence as a transversal property structuring non-linear networks; (ii) self-organization of subsystems without central control; (iii) entropy as an enabling force for asymmetric reconfigurations; and (iv) emergence and autogeneration of concepts during map maturation. An operational table of indicators and heuristics is presented to map each biosystemic principle across information recording and synthesis phases. The study concludes that these principles render systems more legible, governable, and evolvable without loss of identity.